Symbiosis
by Griffin Strange
Summary: Eghil had found the monado, he could prevent this nightmare from happening ever again ... however things go wrong and he is left with a barely alive child ... but maybe it isn't a defeat. (Basically Shulk is found by Eghil in Valak Moutain and lives his childhood on Mechonis)
1. Prologue : the snow child

**Hey ! I'm actually a fan of the xenoblade universe ! (Execpt Xenoblade X ... to be blunt it felt like a final fantasy ripoff (please don't throw rocks at me)) so I'm trying this thing !**

**First chapter is a prologue ! Let me know what you think ! Leave a review !**

**Uh also, spoilers ahead ... though most of you already played and or finished / know the end of the game.**

* * *

"You called me brother ?"

"Yes ... I think I found it, the place" Egil showed multiple images on a screen.

"So our watchers really made it ?"

"Yes ... And it was right in front of us, we have to send our troops now before someone else find it"

"I'm on it, which units ?"

"M37, M97 and ... Yaldabaoth"

"Yours ?! But Egil it's-!"

"Too dangerous I know ... but if they find it, he we lose our chance to find this ... this ... this cursed sword ..." Egil had troubles finding his words ... he ended up crushing a console.

"Egil, don't hurt yourself now ... please" Vanea grabbed her brother's shoulder which made him turn around.

If he could smile he would, she knew it ... but after what happened she doubted he would ever be really happy again.

"You are right ... when will it be ready ?"

"You can already get aboard, I will send your reinforcement"

* * *

After only an hour Egil reached the Bionis, Valak Moutain ... a perfect place to hide it, no natural flow of ether, monsters everywhere ... and a permanent snowstorm.

And during all this years he never noticed this odd detail about the Bionis ... no, what caught his eye was the small expedition ... they had almost reached their destination, he had to be quick.

The reinforcement Vanea had been talking about weren't here yet ... he was on his own.

It was the first time he used Yalsabaoth ... the design was terrible, it was only supposed to be a protection, not a weapon ... but it would do anyway, no weapon or at least almost no weapon can harm a mechon.

They were right at the entrance ... that's when he suddenly dropped from above and blocked their way.

"A-a-a Me-mechon ?!" Yelled one of the hom

"R-run ! Run for your lives !"

They all ran away ... good ... it would have been really annoying if one one them had been tried to be a hero ... still now he had to get out of his ... now that he thought about it he hadn't named his new invention yet ... he would simply call it an armor for now.

So Egil go out from his armor and entered inside the tower, he cools barely feel the cold ... one of the advantage of being born on Mechonis ...

And right in front of him was the thing that started his nightmare ... the monado, waiting for someone stupid enough to get close and- ... he felt something behind him, hiding behind a wall.

"I heard you, get out now" he turned around

At first there was nothing ... and then ... a child reaveled himself he was hidden behind the stair case ... how did Egil miss him ?!

"P-please ... d-don't kill me ! I-I lost my pa-parents when we we-we escaping and-" the child had obviously no idea of how he should react ... and he was already exhausted due to the cold.

"Do not take a step further, stay exactly where you are" Egil was scared but he didn't know if it was either because of the Monaco or because the child could potentially be in range so the sword could use his life force.

"Y-yes !" The child got on his knees and put his and in the air

Egil kept an eye on him ... he slowly approached the sword but right when he was about to grab it a bullet flew right next to him.

"Well, well, well ... I thought I would never see you again !" Said a voice which seemed to belong to a rather old person.

Egil quickly turned around ... a simple bullet would never kill him but this voice ... then he made the connection.

"Zanza's disciple ?!"

"So you remember uh ? It's just perfect ! I get to kill you, the "leader" of Mechonis AND use this one as a temporary body for master Zanza" said the disciple as he grabbed the child by his coat.

"W-what ! L-leave me alone !"

Disgusting ... that's the only word Egil could find to describe how Zanza cared about his creations ... however something was off ... his this was indeed Zanza's disciple ? Why did he look like a hom ? Then Egil understood ... he was powerless right now, Zanza wasn't here ... he couldn't do anything.

"Now ... AHHH !" The disciple threw the child further toward the sword, Egil spoke too soon, he could indeed do one thing, help his master to gather energy.

Egil tried to intercept the child but during a brief second he was in range, the disciple used his gun once more to force Egil to take cover, he would not be able to defeat him but he could at least take the sword and run away.

The bullet lodged itself into Egil's shoulder, it hurt, he couldn't move his arm ... the disciple knew exactly where he was aiming.

He watched the disciple run off with the sword ... he couldn't do anything ... he failed, he failed miserably ... he looked at the child ... or rather Zanza's food.

"I'm sorry ..."

He was about to drop the body but then ... he felt it, the child was still breathing, he survived ... no he was barely struggling to live ... he was fighting against his destiny ... against ... Zanza's ?

... Egil's mind was flooded by thoughts ... plans ... considerations ...

He grabbed the child in his arms and went back to his armor ... he couldn't find much place for the child but there was just enough in the pilot seat.

* * *

"... the amount of ether in his body ... it is ... low ... very low"

"Can you save him ?"

"Egil I- ... I don't understand anymore ! Why do you want to save a living being from Bionis now ? At least explain why-"

"He denied Zanza"

His sister was ... speechless ... her brother's metaphor was rather confusing.

"He ... "denied" him ?"

"As I explained earlier this ... disciple ... Dickson, he wanted to use the child as a temple body for Zanza, but I think he misunderstood how it works, and instead the sword took this kid's life force without habiting his hody"

"So you mean ... he should be dead ?"

"Clearly ... either because it would have worked and he refused to be Zanza's puppet or because he simply refused to die"

Vanea looked again at the child ... most of his skin was decaying because of the lack of ether in his body ... without ether he couldn't live ... Vanea had a solution ... but ... it would imply to play with the fabric of life ... she was reluctant to such a solution but it was the only one ... and she had to do it.

"I can ... but I do not promise anything"

"If he wakes up ... call me"

"Yes brother"


	2. On the other side

**Thank you for reading ! I'm actually surprised that no one complained about the lore, guess I played the game enough hahaha**

NullNoMore chapter 1 . Jun 10

Oooh, neat premise. Now I want to know just how big a genius Shulk could become in an all mechanical world. Or would he become a biologist instead?  
How would socializing be? Better? Worse? Is he accepted by the little mechon as a friend or treated as a stranger?  
(Then I think about him meeting Seven and i have all the feels.)  
Ps. Happy Xenoday! This was a good read for the occasion!

**Happy Xenoday too ! (Was it ? :/ ) at the beginning Shulk won't interact that much with the other Machinas, I think it's too early, beside I really want to imagine how he would react if he knew the truth WAYYYYY before the first events at sword valley with Dunban and co.**

**I'm still figuring out the full story but I'll make sure it's up to your expectations ! Good reading !**

* * *

"How is he ?"

"To be honest ... I think he doesn't understand where he is ... at first he was curious but then he noticed that he wasn't on Bionis anymore and after that he became ..." Vanea sighed as she looked at the state of the young hom "resolved ..."

"... is he safe ?"

"I woumd say I'm proud of my work but ... still ... his body ... I hope I won't have to do this anymore"

"Hopefully no ..."

Egil looked at the young boy through the tainted glass ... Vanea truly made something which only gods could so far, she managed to replace most parts of his body so he could live without ether ... or at least for now.

"I don't know if I should go in now ... how will he react ?"

"He will probably think that you plan on killing him ... or turning him into a mechon"

Egil did not answer as this was the most common thought the kid could have right now ... why did he even brought him back ? It's not like he had ... pity ?

"I'm going in"

"Are you sure ?"

"Maybe you had rather leave him alone in his new body for a few days without any answers"

Vanea frowned at her brother and then she opened the door of the medical bay so Egil could go in.

Egil walked slowly inside, the boy crawled as far as he could from him, obviously he still hasn't used to his new body.

"Have no fear I won't kill you" Egil did have any clear goal but at least he could do the essential with this boy.

"W-what happened ? Why- ... why am I here ?"

Egil sat on the medical chair and thought for a second about how he should explain so the kid could understand.

"Well ... to give you a direct answer ... you should be dead ..."

The young boy ooked confused now

"Dead ? ... but ... I'm alive ! ... I am ... right ?"

"Can you tell me what happened back at Valak Moutain ?"

"Oh ... we ... we were in this strange room and ... and someone threw me toward you ... and then I don't remember anything"

"Hum ... did you notice what was behind me ?"

"The sword you mean ? ... it looked so weird ... yes I did but-"

"The sword absorbed almost all the ether in your body ... almost ... you were barely alive so ... I decided to help you ... this body ... it is my sister who made it, it was the only way to keep you alive ... I'm ... sorry"

"N-no ... don't be ... in fact ... you are ... you are a mechon right ? Why- ... why did you spare me ?"

"Machina"

"Machina ?"

"The mechons are my creations ... but I'm a machina ... what you could call Mechonis's homs"

"So ... wait ... creators ?"

"Yes ... I can continu to explain unless you want some time to ... process everything that is happening to you"

"... are my parents ... alive ? ... did you kill them ?"

At this moment Egil looked again at the tainted window ... he couldn't see Vanea but he knew that she would understand what he meant.

"They ... you remember the man who threw you toward the sword ?"

"Yes"

"... he ... he killed them ... he killed them to keep the sword ... I'm sorry"

The boy started crying but ... something was wrong, at first Egil Egil thought that he must tried to keep his composure in front of him but then Vanea entered inside the medical bay too.

"Oh no" she whispered

"Vanea what's happening ?"

""it's-it's only temporary but I may have damaged his body while I was reconstructing it" she got closer from the kid "I'm really sorry"

Since he couldn't cry he ... Egil didn't know how he should describe it, it was as if he gave up on mourning ...

"Why am I here ?" He asked again

Vanea stood up and went next to her brother

"I ... I want to give you a chance, a chance to get revenge and to prevent the death of thousands"

"How ?"

Egil slightly smiled and headed toward the exit of the medical bay

"I will explain later ... Vanea ?"

"Yes" she turned back toward the young hom once again "we still have a few test to do, since you aren't used yet to your body. Plus it's the first time I created such a thing so I want to make sure it won't cease to work at any time ... hum ... also, what's your name ?"

"My name is Shulk ... and yours is Vanea right ?"

"Yes" she looked back at the door, Egil left "well ... let's start then"

* * *

"... what should I do now ? ... it's a kid ... a kid ... he won't always be one but still ... he does not even understand what he truly is ... please ... give me a direction"

Egil had spent a few hours at the statue ... hoping that maybe he would start a discussion ... hoping that maybe praying would show him what he should do next. He had lost the monado and worst, one of Zanza's disciple was alive.

Egil heard someone ... Vanea ... what was she saying ? Something like ...

"It's great Shulk ... one step after the other ... you have focus, soon you won't even feel like you have too think about it"

They were getting closer ... the boy was recovering fast.

"It ... it hurts a bit but it is fine thank you"

"Does it ? ... I can always take a look if you want ... beside it could be an infection ... are you sure it's okay ?"

"Yes, it only stings a li-"

Then the boy noticed the giant statue, obviously he had never seen such a construction.

"Oh ... this is lady Meyneth ..." answered Vanea

Shulk looked at Vanea when she was staring at the statue ... he had never seen somethings like this ... it was ... devotion ?

"So ... you are already outside ?" Egil showed up in front of them

"Yes ... thank you again ..."

"Good ... I'm sure you noticed the ... white bodies outside then"

"... you mean ..."

"They are telethias ... but you probably never heard of such creatures, they used to live on the bionis ... well live ... "created to be exact"

"... how did they get here ?"

"Hum ... you look smart, at least you noticed that they shouldn't be here ... they came during the great war between Bionis and Mechonis" Egil looked at the city, Shulk saw that something was wrong about those creatures.

"During the war ? But it was ... it was so long ago"

"Yes ... and I can confirm it because I lived it"

"Lived it ?"

Vanea noticed that the young hom looked really confused.

"We machinas can live during a long time ... that's how Egil and I are still alive after all this time"

"... how was it ? I mean ... if you were here during the war ... how did you survived ? The mechonis was ... I mean ... they were both moving"

"They used to be immobile as they are now you see" explained Egil "... it may be hard for your to understand but ... the war was started by the Bionis itself ... Zanza"

"... Zanza ?'

"The Bionis is only a body ... a giant puppet if you prefer, just like the Mechonis is ... Zanza ... he started this war out of nowhere ... thousands died ... so in order to stop this lady Meyneth decided to take action"

"Lady Meyneth ... she isn't simply a machina"

"No ... she is a goddess, our goddess, with her help the war was stopped ... and both her and Zanza had to retreat to regain their forces ... I was at Valak Mountain to take back the Monado, without it Zanza is unable to act against us"

"But ... you didn't ... because of me"

"No ... do not blame yourself ... one of Zanza's disciple was here, he used you against me, you had no power in this situation"

Shulk didn't say anything ... he thought about the situation ...

"... Zanza will come back one day ?"

"He is already coming back ... ether ... you know what it is right ?"

"Of course, it's the building block of all life"

"Good ... now tell me, how much ether do you think is necessary to power a being as powerful as the Bionis"

"... a lot ... "

"Good answer again ... now ... what happens when a creature born on the Bionis dies ?"

"Well ... the ... their body start decaying and-"

Shulk gasped as he realised where Egil was bringing him.

"In the end ... you are food" he coldly said

Vanea gave her brother dark glance "Egil !"

"He has to know Vanea"

She was about to add something but then Shulk talked.

"Egil is right ... sorry ... I ... I understand ... so ... that's why the mechons attack the Bionis ... to kill his source of power ? ... that's also why you didn't kill ? Because the ether in my body-"

"Yes and no ... when the sword absorbed your ether you survived ... the thing is, you shouldn't have"

"... I don't understand"

"So do I ... but I think there is reason ... I do not know which yet but I will eventually ... now if you will excuse me there are things I have to finish ... Vanea ? Can you keep Shulk with you for a while ?"

"Well ... yes ..."

Egil simply nodded and left ... Shulk then looked again at the statue ...

"... have you seen her before ?" He asked Vanea

"Once ... she was a mother to all of us ..." Vanea sighed "Follow me, we are going to my personal workshop ... I'm sure there will be something for you to do ... unless you want to visit the capital on your own"

Shulk looked around him once more ... this place was beautiful but seeing it so empty and knowing about it's past was a bit overwhelming for him.

"I- ... I will go with you"

"Good, let's go then"

* * *

"Here" Vanea showed a bunch of scraped parts of mechons to shulk.

"... it's not much but If you want to do something you can- ..." Vanea sighed "sorry ... I really don't know how to handle this kind of situation"

Shulk on his side was in fact really curious, he immediately picked up what looked like to be a piston in his hands and examined it.

"I understand Vanea but ... wow ... It's incredible ... can I really-?"

"Of course you can ... just be careful alright ?

"Yes !"

Vanea smiled and nodded once before going further in her workshop.

On their way Shulk didn't see much ... it felt weird, back at the capital he could directly see the Bionis, the body of the Mechonis was literally opened ... it always looked closed from the other side ... now that he thought about it, it was strange ... lady Meyneth ... if she was the incarnation of the Mechonis or something similar why does the giant looks so different ?

The mechons parts worked just like a puzzle, as if they were designed to fit anywhere, Shulk had honestly no idea of what he was creating but so far it looked like something ... almost like something ... an ... insect ? It was as big as his hand ... wait ... how did he even know how to assemble it in the first place ? ... maybe he should ask Vanea.

She was on the other side of the workshop workin on something, there was a big room and it's interior was very bright, sparks ?

"Is there anything wrong Shulk ?"

"W-well ... not really but, I was wondering- ... wow"

Izuku could now see what Vanea was working on ... he remembered it from Valak Moutain ... the golden mechon.

"W-what is this ? It doesn't looks like any mechon I have seen in the factory on the way here"

"It's a prototype, Egil made it, he asked me to repair it ... you like it ?"

"Y-yes ... it looks like ... it looks like it's made to be part of something greater"

Vanea was intrigued

"What do you mean ?"

"The way it's arms are made ... I mean ... there are small holes in it"

Indeed there was, Vanea was unaware of this detail but now that she noticed it it was clear that Egil made this on purpose ... but why ?

"... oh sorry, I wanted to know why I ... I mean ... it's almost as if I knew how to make mechons, I was trying to assemble something and ... I ended up making a small one"

"Oh ! ... can I see ?"

"Y-yes"

Shulk showed Vanea the small "bug" mechon ... she examined it for a few seconds.

"Well ... if he had a power source it would be working perfectly ... that's ... curious indeed ... I didn't do anything to you that would explain this ... talent"

"So ... how can I do that ?"

"I guess it must be natural then" Vanea patted Shulk's head and gave him back the small mechon "you could show it to Egil ... "

Shulk looked back at his creation ...

"He wasn't so cold before you know ? ... after the great war he ... changed ... a lot"

"... does he hate me because I'm a Hom ?"

"He doesn't hate Homs ... but Zanza ... Egil had a friend ... Zanza took possession of his body and used him to attack the Mechonis, Egil never found a way to overcome this"

"Took possession ? B-but how ?"

"I'm not sure myself ... there is a lot of things we don't know ... so far Egil plan is still the same, find the monado and make sure to either destroy it or restrict it's power, without it Zanza is powerless"

"... the monado ... to is said to be Bionis sword ... but how ? It's so ... small"

"By sword it doesn't necessarily have to be one, it's a tool, it can control ether and with it Zanza can control the Bionis itself"

"... then ... is their another weapon which can control Mechonis ?"

"... good question ... ahhh ... I'm tired, my work is finished here ... how about we go see Egil ?"

"Y-yes !"


	3. Test session

icypika chapter 2

I think this is a really interesting concept. I'd love to see it continue?

**I'm still alive don't worry, it's just not my main story and immediately not intensively writing right now but in still continuing don't worry.**

**Really short this time as I don't want to lose my update rhythm, I will never post something shorter than 2000 words.**

* * *

"... E-Egil ?" Shulk was afraid that he would disturb Egil during whatever he was doing ... but he was also very scared of the massive mechon which stood right in front of him.

"Hum ? ... you shouldn't walk alone like this ... the mechons still recognize you as an enemy ... a threat ... however I'm still surprised you manage to make your way back here without Vanea ... what do you want ?"

"W-well ... I-I made this and Vanea told me I could show it to y-you" Shulk hesitantly handed Egil his small creation.

It was truly amazing ... Egil had never though of such design ... how ? ... how did he make this ? Egil spent hundreds of years creating new sorts of mechons, he had envisaged every possible form but this ... no ... the boy ... he used something that he saw on the Bionis ... what was it called again ? An antol ? ... though the main body looks bigger.

"Impressing ... did Vanea help you ?"

"N-no, she was working on your ... uh ... mechon armor ... the one with a face, the others doesn't have a-I-I mean they doesn't have a true face"

"A face ? ... this is actually a good name ... you do not have to be so scared, I already said I would not kill you"

"... then why am I here ? ... you keep saying you won't kill me but ... I'm still useless for you, if you had left me die then- then it would have ave been the same result"

"I do not know yet ... but-" Egil looked again at Shulk's creation "hum ... fine ... I have in fact figured out something ... follow me"

Shulk nodded once ... Egil was- ... he had some sort of aura, as if he could get uncontrollable at any moment and destroy everything around him ... but he also had something completely different ... remorse ?

Egil led Shulk to a room similar to Vanea's workshop, in the middle of it stood a massive mechon ... his armor was really different, it looked less chaotic and it had ... it had a face just like Egil's mechon ...

"What do you think about this ?"

Shulk walked closer ... not too close though, even if it looked inactive he knew perfectly that these machines would try to kill him at any instant.

"It's ... another face ? ... can it be piloted ?"

"Yes it is" Egil touched what looked like to be the arm of the face and turned toward Shulk "it isn't working yet, I'm still trying to figure out how to make it stable ... in fact, I would like to know if you could help me"

"Me ? B-but ... I can't possibly pilot a mechon ... I can hardly use my body right now"

"And you are doing great so far ... beside I'm sure you are in fact very curious ... don't try to lie hahaha ... I know this kind of face"

... Egil was right ... Shulk had no reason to refuse ... well fear was a possible excuse but indeed he really wanted to know how a mechon looked from the inside.

"Fair point ... how do I-"

Egil walked away and as he did the mechon opened itself reveal a small space inside ... it looked like a seat, uncomfortable but still a seat.

"Get in but avoid moving until I give you my instructions"

"Y-yes"

Shulk climbed inside ... it wasn't cold or hot, in fact the temperature felt perfect ... he felt safe inside ... does Egil feel the same inside his face ?

"Are you installed ?"

"Yes-" Shulk was taken by surprised, his voice was different

"Hum ... I forgot about this, I thought I only put this on my own face"

"What is this ?"

"It's a function that allows you the right to control the mechons around you ... consider yourself an officer"

"... t-thanks ?" Answered Shulk feigning a chuckle

"There are no physical controls, you just have to think about moving around ... I'll be closing the torso now, alright ?"

"Go on"

Egil didn't even move and the torso of the machine closed, for a second the inside was completely dark and then a strange light appeared in front of Shulk ... he could see Egil ? How could the light take shape like this ?

"It is called an hologram, I will explain how it works later if you want to know ... try to take a few steps forward, be careful not to fall"

"Y-yes" moving without acutaly moving, the first step was the hardest but soon it became almost natural.

"You are doing great ... I'm impressed ... maybe it is due to your new body ... you can stop if you feel sick"

"I'm fine ... It's just hard to look around"

"Feel free to tell me anything wrong, I'm taking notes ..."

Shulk kept moving around, trying every possible movement, jumping, running ... rolling ...

"Egil ... are there other Machina ?"

"... yes"

"It this made for them ? Or for Vanea ?"

"No ... it isn't"

Shulk felt that something was off.

"... why are you the only Machinas here ? ... where are the others ?"

"They didn't chose to follow me"

"... w-why ?"

"They think that I am wrong ..."

"... then ... if it isn't for them ... why did you make another face ?"

"... you should get out now or else you might get exhausted"

Shulk knew that Egil was dodging his question ... but he had no reason to push him to answer, he simply thought about opening the torso and got out.

"... this mechon is made for the people of Bionis" said Egil as Shulk walked out of the face

"... I don't understand"

"... I expected you to be surprised ... here is a fact about the Monado, it can't arm living beings from the Bionis"

"... so ... it can't hurt that mechon ?"

"As long as their is a being from the Bionis inside ... I know what you think, that no one would ever willingly attack their people even if it was to save them"

...

"I do in fact ... you aren't ... evil ... you just want to save everyone ... if- ... if someone had to do it then ... I would"

"You ? ... you would kill your own people from your own will ?"

"... no ... but I would definitely help you, I wouldn't go as far as killing other Homs like me but I would warn them ... maybe we could just explain the situation ... right ?"

"... if only it was possible ... anyway ... this workshop is yours, there is a bed, food ... well food ... ether most likely ... and water too if you need some, you can live here and do whatever you want. See this as a payback for helping me"

"R-really ?"

"I just said it ... I have to go now, I'll also find a way to make sure that the mechons out there recognise you as an ally and not a threat"

Egil walked away without saying anything else

"... thank you" Shulk looked around him ... he felt the urge to explore his new home, he had so much question about the technology of Mechonis and first he definitely wanted to start with how the machinas could bend the light ... there was a few ... yes "consoles" that's how Vanea called them.

"Here goes nothing" Shulk tried to interact with it but suddenly as he touched the disk of light the room in which the face was standing changed, a bunch of metals circle appeared from nowhere and now they were floating around the face.

_"Initiating repair ... analyse finished, integrity of Unit 63 : 100% no action required, end process"_

It sounded like how Shulk was speaking with the face ...

"H-hello ?" ... no one answered ... was it ... was it somehow ... made ? Or ... it wasn't natural ... though it would seem logic since the Mechonis is one big machine with a lot of small machines inside ...

* * *

With this new body he never felt the need to sleep, he could ... in fact he only had to think about sleeping and he would fall asleep in the next second ... but at the same time he would be so aware.

He did not make any progress with the secrets of the Machina technology, however he made a lot of observations with the Face, he found out how it worked (mostly) and managed to command it using the command panel in the observation room.

He wasn't exactly sure about the time he had spent doing this ... Egil didn't come back, and so did Vanea ... something was wrong.

He left the workshop and as he was heading toward the elevator for the Capitalhe net a group of mechon ... they didn't attack him, they did notice him, at this moment Shulk was certain that he would die as he was alone but to his surprised the mechon simply looked at him for a second before continuing their patrol, Egil managed to do so that the mechon would recognise him as something else than a threat.

"Oh Shulk, there you are" called Vanea

"Hello Vanea"

"Egil told me he showed you the prototype, are you okay ?"

"Y-yes ... why ?"

"Oh ... it's nothing ... I just got scared for a moment when I noticed that Egil was alone"

"I was in this workshop, Egil gave it to me as a temporary hum ... house"

"Hum that's good, Egil is about to leave, you want to come with me ?"

"Yes"

* * *

Egil was in front of the massive statue of Meynetj and right behind him stood the Gold face, Yaldabaoth.

"It's massive ..."

"You didn't see it in the mountains"

"I ... did ... but only for a second, we were caught in a storm at the moment"

Egil was standing in front of a console, Shulk didn't not fully understand yet how it worked ... Eg had both of his arms raised toward the holograms and his eyes closed.

"What is he doing ?" Whispered Shulk

"Observing, since the Monado was taken by one of Zanza's disciple Egil has been monitoring the Bionis ... so far he didn't find anything"

"... I wonder how it feels ... to be connected to so many mechons"

"It's exhausting, but Egil is strong"

Egil opened his eyes, the holograms disappeared and he finally took his breath.

"I found it ... Colony 9 ... it's far ... too far" said Egil looking back at the statue.

"Colony ... 9 ... It is on the foot of the Bionis" added Shulk

"Correct ... we aren't strong enough to reach it yet ... if we do, we would be detected immediately"

"Have you ever tried to talk with-" Shulk was immediately cut by Egil

"It is not possible" he firmly said "... who would listen to a being from Mechonis ? Everyone thinks that the mechons attacked first but it is a lie ... they have all been manipulated by Zanza's disciple, just like puppets, if we try anything now Zanza will feel threatened and he will do anything to accelerate his regeneration"

"... then how do you want to act ?"

Egil looked back at Shulk ... he examines his body.

"... you ... you would not be detected, you aren't a machina or a mechon like us ... you could go and-"

"Egil !" Vanea intervened "you can't just force Shulk to take-"

"I will"

...

"Shulk you-"

"You told me what happened ... I have seen the horrors of the war at the capital, I- .. I did read some reports with the console in the workshop ... I think it's my responsibility somehow ... I want to help you ... I want peace, for both of our world"

"... peace ..." whispered Egil

* * *

_"Comon Egil ! We are almost at the summit"_

_"I'm not as great as you ! You could slow down"_

_"Hahaha ... you won't regret it I swear ! It is almost the time"_

_"The falling stars right ? ... yes I remember, I saw some once, there aren't any on the Mechonis ... in wonder why"_

_"My people says that they are the tears of joy from ancients beings, even more ancient than us"_

_"I wonder how they looked like then"_

_"Probably like us ... generally ... I hope one day you will show me how the Mechonis looks like"_

_"... I shouldn't say this but ... the Mechonis really is different ... compared to the Bionis it's completely mechanical, there is life of course but ... it doesn't work the same way"_

_"That's why I want to see it ... I want to discover everything, after all ... i think this is the only way to actually achieve unity, to understand the other"_

* * *

"Egil ?"

"... thank you Shulk ... we will discuss this again, for now I have important things to do. Vanea do not worry, I'll ensure Shulk's safety"

Egil somehow floated in the air and entered inside his face before flying away.

"... Shulk ... you ... you shouldn't get involved, you do not know what happened thousands of years ago"

"I do not yes ... but I don't want to know either ... if I do not help Egil it's not only Zanza who will die but most likely the whole Bionis if we can't find the Monado"

"So I won't be able to change your decision"

"... I'm sorry"

"Fine ... I will help you then, you said Egil asked you some help with a face right ? ... I guess you deserve a reward then"


	4. Getting accustomed

**I'm kinda confused with the timeline, Shulk looks way older in the cutscene where the expedition to retrieve the monado is presented, so I'll assume that at the time of my story he is like 7 or 8. (So the Monado expedition happens later and Shulk is a little bit older to rephrase)**

XenoEmblem4TW chapter 3

Continue please this piques my interest! Shulk helping make mechon plans is going to be a disaster and then the issue of him going to the colony to discuss the truth? I feel like that won't end well because they will think he is brainwashed or made to fool them. Either way convincing other people that the Bionis is really trying to end them all isn't going to happen that fast. Also, is he going to age still or will he be forever young but with advanced intellect and mechanical body? Basically an adult in a child's body syndrome?

**In still continuing this story, however as it's not my main story updates are slower :)**

**You are giving me a lot of ideas, I'm trying to explore every aspect and to strong basis at the same time.**

**Shulk's body will be mentioned later, but for now I'm going to focus on a totally different character, can you guess who it is ? :)**

icypika chapter 3

Ooh I can't wait to see where this goes from here. Does Shulk look enough like a Hom to get to the colony and not be attacked? Wouldn't Dickson recognize Shulk from Valak Mountain? I love this concept so much

**That would be a bunch of good questions ... but too bad, Shulk is a lite genius so that won't be a problem, read to find out why :D**

* * *

"... You can't use him as a weapon"

"You think I am assimilating him as a machine ?"

"Of course I am ! You saved him and know you are sending him back ?! He doesn't look like a hom anymore, and- ... Zanza's disciple will recognise him"

"... I'm scared ... Zanza is accelerating his plans" Egil turned around and sat, he looked at the metallic ground of the Mechonis. "If I fail not only the Mechonis will disappear but every form of life in our world ... and maybe the others"

"... then what should I do to help you ?"

"I- ... I want to give Shulk his own face ... I- ... HE made me realise that we cannot use mass produced faces, each living being has his own advantage compared to the others ... this is what we will do, we will a perfect face for him"

"... Can I be honest with you ?"

"Always"

"I- ... I ready feel like you are becoming once again the Egil I like ... do not take it as an offence it's-"

"No ... it warms my hearth to hear that ... we will win right ?"

"I-I hope so"

* * *

"I saw how Egil did that ... he places his hand in the circle and-" Shulk wasn't prepared, as he pressed his fingers on the glass panel it felt like his whole body was projected away, he couldn't feel his legs or his arms. He was above the Mechonis ... he could see Sword Valley, he was ... in a mechon ?

Out of gears Shulk tried really hard to pull out and he ended up falling , his head hurt a lot.

"You should try to avoid that" Egil had entered inside the data center, he knew Shulk would be here, he noticed back at the shrine how their holograms were fascinating him "this technology wasn't conceived so your kind could support it"

"S-Sorry, I- I realler want to know how you bend the light"

"Hum ... this is the observation panel, it is connected to the mechons tasked to scout outside the Mechonis, here let me show you" Egil walked toward another panel, Shulk dent know what he did but after about 10 seconds a bigger hologram appeared at the centre of the room, it was showing what the mechon was seeing ... it looked so real, just like looking throught a window.

"It looks so perfecf"

"Almost, it is only a bunch of small dots close from each others you know ? Come closer, you will see"

It was true indeed, if you looked close enough the image was only a lot of small coloured particles carefully places to form an image ... an image ...

"Egil ... do you think you could do this anywhere ?"

"... yes ... what are you thinking about ?"

"No one can see the dots if they are too far away right ? ... what if ... what if you could place an hologram all Round an object, could you hide it ?"

Technically Shulk was right, the machinas used this technology for millennia, they never thought to use it this way and after seeing it only a few times a young boy, not older than ten managed to create the perfect camouflage.

"... you are a genius Shulk, you just found a way to infiltrate the Bionis"

* * *

"C-... camouflage ... on a face ? Egil it's ... it's just too big and-"

"On a face yes but in not asking you to make such a thing possible while it's moving, I came up with a plan-well we rather" Egil designed Shulk with is hand and they young hom simply nodded "Once on the Bionis Shulk won't need his face but we had to find a way to hide it"

"Oh, then if the face will not move then I can make it without problem"

"Thank you ... could you also had this functionality on Shulk's body ?"

"Of course, but it will be a prototype for now, it may not be perfect"

"This is exactly what we need to watch the Bionis ... we should have thought about this years ago ... oh tell me Shulk how old are you ?"

"I'm 8"

"... even more impressive in that case"

"And you ?"

"... this doesn't seem appropriate, You are free now Shulk"

"Well Shulk ... would you like to build your face with me ?"

"Can I ?"

"Yes, of course ... I will do most of the body but if you have any suggestion feel free to tell me"

"... you said the face was too big for a complete camouflage right ? What if you could build it separately ? Like the hum ... OFFENSIVE or DEFENSIVE units ? Some parts of their bodies are floating around"

"... good idea I could, your face will only be used to travel after all ... but ... il you want I can give you a small weapon"

"It's ... it looks like a sword but the blade is Strange"

"Originally it's a weapon made for a mechon, you have to activate it, like this"

Vanea took the sword in her hand and made a movement with a her hand to twist the handle of the sword, it opened in two and suddenly a flame bursted out of the sword.

"W-what is this ? An hologram ?"

"No, it's a laser, it is created by using a crystal ... I'm sorry I can't explain everything as it isn't so simple"

"Does it hurt ?"

"It is made to cut throught even mechon armor, only the armor of a face is strong enough to resist it"

"Thank you Vanea"

"This one is a bit big for you" Vanea twisted the handle again and the sword diminished "I will make one smaller for you"

"... where are the other machinas ?"

"Have you ever noticed that there was a fallen arm close from Mechonis's foot ?"

"Yes ... but ... Mechonis already has two arms ?"

"Mechonis lost ot during the great war, Egil rebuilt it, it is almost finished now ... the other machinas live on the fallen arm, away from the conflict"

"... so you and Egil are the only ones fighting ?"

"They- ... they tried to stop him, Egil is acting out of revenge and hanger, he gave them the choice, they could either help him or leave ... and they did"

"Why did you stay ?"

"... I always hoped that one day Egil would find another way to leave in peace with the people of the Bionis ... if Zanza disappears then maybe- ... maybe we could go back to how things were before the great war ... today I think Egil is changing, you have only been here for a few days and you already changed him so much, I think you are giving him something he really missed during all those years, you are giving him hope"

"Hope ... my parents used to say that it is something very strong ..."

"Hehe ... Egil would say it's a terrible lie ... but when he says that he is lying to himself"

* * *

"Your movements are very fluent ... you are learning fast"

"We started only a week ago, and I haven't tried to fly yet ... how does It feels ?"

"Not so different to be honest, after all you are still touching something"

"Oh ... also, it's about the foots ... I mean ... could you maybe make them flexible ? It might help to gain more stability, Yaldabaoth doesn't need this feature since it is way bigger but smaller faces need to be able to move quickly"

"I will tell Vanea ... are you still sure about this ?"

"I haven't changed my mind" Shulk thought about opening the main frame, just lik Egil Egil laught him so he could get out "Because of me you missed the chance to stop all of this and- ... and I?don't want to see anyone hurt again"

"... you want to change what Zanza planned for you ? You want to change your destiny right ? ... This is a very noble thought but ... sometimes things have to happen, you won't always be able to change the future If I may say"

"... changing the future ... is it really possible ?"

Egil looked back at the capital ... Shulk couldn't see his face but he knew that a lot of thoughts were fighting each others in the mind of Egil. He was a genius, after all he is the one who created most of the mechons, the faces included, but he had one weakness ... he was scared.

"Zanza ... when he attacked I- ... at first I thought he was simply monstrously strong but I later discovered that the Monada could manipulate the waves of ether ... and I started theorizing" Egil turned back and walked toward Shulk to sit right next to him "If the ether is the basis of all life ... and that the Monade can manipulate, then the Monado must have the capacity of anticipating it's movements"

"So that's why the monado is said to be the only weapon effective against the mechons"

"Yes ... I'm still trying to figure out a way to counter this ability ... I don't know yet how it manipulates the ether but once I will know we will definitely be able to counter this damned sword AND Zanza" Egil closed his eyes for a moment and layed on the ground "... once you reach the Bionis, make sure to call us every day"

"... I will"

* * *

"I finished it yesterday but I wanted to keep it as a surprise"

"I'm sure you did a wonderful work Vanea"

"I named it ..." Vanea dramatically pressed a button on the console of her workshop to reveal the face inside "Face RUBIS"

It was entirely red, except for the lines covering the arms, the legs, and the main frame, the head was similar to the ones of the mass product faces but it had some kind of hood above it.

The legs and the arms weren't directly connected, instead they were constantly floating close to the main part of the face, the torso.

"It was a good idea to disconnect the arms and the legs, you can assimilate them as drones ... OhI almost forgot" Vanea went into another part of her workshop and brought back a smaller version of the sword that she showed to Shulk a few days ago "I hope you will like it"

"Thank you Vanea !" Shulk grabbed the sword, he took a few steps away from Vanea and Egil and repeated the same movement that Vanea did to activate the sword.

"RUBIS ... because of the color ?"

"Yes ... I wanted to call it HOOD at first but I think one of your prototypes is already name like this"

"I can't recall ... anyway, Shulk we have to connect this gave yo your body, so you can pilot it"

"... connect ? ... but I can already pilot the mass product faces right ?"

"You can of course, but I meant piloting outside"

"Outside ?"

"Look" Egil raised his finger and the face extended both of his arms "it may look hars but it's in fact really simple"

"Come here Shulk, it won't take long"

Shulk sat on a desk, Vanea soon came with a few tools ... it felt really Strange to have parts of his body removed, Shulk really missed his Hom body but at the same time he liked this mechon body, to him it was a symbol, a symbol of hope and ... gratitude.

"It might feel weird at first, Egil doesn't need to have this kind of remote controllers so it's very different than simply thinking about moving the face ... no offence"

"I'm not ... what Vanea means is that this time you have to be careful about your movements ... maybe to make it more simple to should find a way so Shulk can activate and deactivate the remote controls ?"

"That's what I planned ... still try to not break it on it's first day" complained Vanea

"It's a face hahaha, you said it is one of the most resistant Mechons" argued Shulk "... say ... which one is the most resistant then ?"

Vanea gave a quick glance to Egil who in response rolled his eyes before answering to Shulk "the Ancient Daedala ... it's one of the survivors from the great war ... we used to have a lot of thos model but they were all destroyed ... expect him, but ... he became rogue and I had to lock it somewhere"

"You didn't try to fix it ?"

"Oh ... you can try if you want, trust me he REALLY likes visitors" Shulk remained silent to Egil's irony

"Here, finished" Vanea put back the parts of Shulk's body that she had to remove to place the remote controllers. "How about we try your face now ? Get in the pilot seat and walk it out"

* * *

Shulk spent the next days with Vanea and Egil to work on his face, Vanea was adjusting the control, even completely changing them if it was needed and Egil was mostly the one teaching Shulk with is own face.

"I think you are ready, you can still progress but you already have a wonderful control, you can even fly by yourself ... honestly it took me weeks only to be able to float but you ... you simply are amazing, you have a great balance"

"Thank you Egil ... then that's it, I'm really leaving tonight"

"You are ..." both of them got out of their respective face and sat on the ground to look at the Bionis "Do not try to recover the Monado by yourself, you would just end up getting killed and ... if someone happened to see you like this it would be even worse"

"... I won't, I know my mission ... I only have to find the Monado and report to you"

"Simple enough, I can't send any scout unit ... this Dickson might sense it, however he would never expect something invisible ... your idea is simply amazing"

"... If- ... If you ever save another hom like me ... do you think they will join us ?"

"I hope they will"

* * *

**There we go ! Next chapter we will take a look at Colony 9 !**


	5. First visit

**Hey guys ! I'm back this story is still alive (as much as it can possibly be !)**

Guest chapter 4

I really like this story. I hope that this story will continue.

**Glad you do cause we are back !**

mgnado's power chapter 4

Interesting concept, I really like it. I'm interested to see how Shulk's personality and outlook may differ being raised by Egil (and being raised at all, it doesn't seem like Dickson took very good care of him...). Though, I do wonder if Egil knows that Shulk is being inhabited by Zanza, and how Zanza and the disciples are reacting to losing Shulk. He is invaluable to their plans, after all. I really like your Vanea, she seems like she understands both Egil and Shulk very well. Hope we see Alvis at some point!

**I will definitely write a part were Egil and Shulk spends some time together (should have at the beginning but well better now than never)**

**Egil has no idea of what's going on in Shulk's mind and poor Vanea now has to deal with a very young hom who will probably ask too many questions as the story continues.**

waluigifan64 chapter 4

love it and Can't wait for the next chapter

**Sorry again for the wait ^^'**

icypika chapter 4

I can't wait to see how Shulk interacts with everyone. I am confused about how he will be going there though. Like does he have a hologram of his Hom self surrounding him? Is the face super homs like and can fool others? Anyway keep up the great work.

**Machina technology isn't performant enough to create good and realistic hologram so they found another solution ^^**

* * *

Shulk reached the Bionis without any trouble, the ocean was beautiful during the night, even if he knew how dangerous it was in fact, he wondered if the creatures from the great sea were also created by Zanza, why were they so strong compared to the ones living on the surface ? Some kind of security to prevent other living beings from ... escaping ?

Egil warned him about the defence system of the colony, it was probably inactive diring the night but Shulk wouldn't risk to attract attention especially when he knew what kind of dangers he could still encounter.

Thanks to his holograms he managed to approach the edge of the Colony, his face didn't make much noise, in fact someone could think it's the wind blowing. Shulk had to hide it somewhere so he could explore the colony more freely.

He headed toward the south and found a cavern, it wasn't empty, a bunch of animals lived here, usually they would be rather aggressive but Shulk's appearance seemed to scare them, what a lucky boy.

It didn't really matter if a creature attacked him, with Vanea's weapon he would probably kill it with a single strike.

Shulk left his face in a rest mode and got out of the cave, he activated his camouflage. Vanea made a simple test to check if it worked well enough, Shulk just had to watch his reflection in the water if he could slightly see it it meant that the prototype wasn't working correctly and that he should avoid to move quickly or go out during daytime.

She promised that she would find a way to enhance the calculation of the rays or something like this. Shulk didn't understand most of the words she was using as Mechon technology was still a mystery for him.

He knew a bit about colony 9, they had some sort of fortress, obviously it was the great building at the very end of the colony.

As he walked throught the colony he crossed the path of some people, one of them actually turned around as if he had heard something, it was a nopon and Shulk decided to inform Vanea as soon as he could about this little detail, if he had to come back to the colony in the future that last thing he would need would be an over suspicious nopon.

He reached the fortress quickly, as he approached he heard a bunch of people screamed what sounded like encouragement mixed with screams of pain. At least he would not have to deal with his own noises anymore.

The soldiers were forming a circle in the court of the fortress, Shulk couldn't see what they were looking at but he definitely saw flashes of white and blue.

"Comon ! Just focus DAMN IT !" Screamed another soldier with a moustache which looked rather old compared to the others, next to him three other people were observing whatever was happening. They looked rather bored expect for one of them who really seemed to enjoy the spectacle.

Shulk clearly recognised one of them ... Zanza's disciple.

He decided to avoid him, for now he had to find the monado, Shulk looked around and found some sort of lab, he was about to go in when he heard something interesting.

"It's useless ! How are we supposed to use this thing if it keeps trying to hurt us ?!"

Shulk turned around, he approached from the crowd of soldiers and then he saw it, the Monado, right in front of him, on the ground.

The soldiers were trying to use it, he actually had a chance to take it now, eventually they would get tired and annoyed then he would recover the Monado and bring it back to Egil.

"YOU MORONS ! YOU ARE NOT EVEN TRYING !" screamed the old soldier.

"How about I give it a try ?" Asked the other man standing next to the old soldier.

"You ? Dunban ? ... fine ... AND DO NOT DISAPPOINT ME !"

"Comon man, Dunban, you are just a show off" complained the other one.

Dickson now looked curious, he expected something ? Shulk decided to observe.

the man named Dunban only chuckled and walked in the circle to recover the sword, Shulk saw that despite how confident the man sounded just a few second ago his hands were shaking.

"Alright !" He screamed.

The sword ... opened ? Shulk couldn't clearly describe what happened, thebsowrd didn't seem to have any kind of power source, something else happened, a symbol appeared at the centre of the sword.

And nothing else ... no flash of light, no scream ... this man, Dunban, he could use the Monado ?

"Is- ... is it safe ?" Asked one of the soldiers after a few seconds of astonishment.

"Yeah ... I think it is ! I can use the Monado guys !" Declared Dunban as he lifted the sword in the air like some trophy.

Shulk had only one thing to do now, report everything to Egil, he was about to run back to his face when he heard a lot of cheers coming from the plaza, apparently the colons had thrown a party for Dunban, if he tried to get away now he would definitely be spotted.

The only thing he could do now was to wait, he made his way back to his face, the streets were empty excepted for one or two people running to join the festivities.

"Let me go" Shulk payed more attention to his surroundings, the streets weren't so empty in fact, a bunch of kids about his age were ... having an argument ?

"No way, Dunban his gonna pay, he is too lazy to be the one using the super sword ! My dad should have been the one" snapped a boy which looked like some sort of leader.

"Yeah, so guess what ? His adorable sister is gonna go say hello to some big fish in the lake"

They couldn't be serious, why would they be so cruel ? If they pushed the kid in the lake at this time then they would definitely die !

"Grab her boys !" Ordered the leader.

Shulk approached, the two other boys tried to grab the girl but she was putting up a fight, he heard a crack as she punched one of them in the face, probably a broken nose. She tried to push back the other but she was already immobilized.

"ARGGG ! YOU STUPID-" the injured boy was about to punch her back in response but his fist mysteriously stopped mid air "w-what ?!"

Shulk decided to intervene, they couldn't see him after all right ? So he slapped the boy and sent him flying on about three meters.

Scared the one who grabbed the girl let her go and took a few step backwar "w-wait ! What is happening ?!" After a few seconds he ran away yelling for his mother to hold him or something.

"You witch ! What have you done to them ?!" Asked the leader.

"I-I-" she was as shocked as they were.

"It doesn't matter, if we can't throw you in the lake then a good old beat up will be enough.

Shulk was about to intervene but a third party joined the conflict, another person approached yelling as loud as they could "HEYYYYYYYYYYY !"

The leader barely had the time to react when a tall boy hit him with his head directly in the belly, even Shulk had to say that this looked way more violent than the broken nose from earlier but somehow the leader was still standing up.

"Reyn !" Called the girl rushing to help the newcomer.

"Are you alright Fior-" a punch straight to his face, he didn't see it coming but it wasn't enough to send him to the ground.

Fiora avoided the fight, and she was right, at this point she couldn't do much to help Reyn.

"You want some too ?!" The leader charged Reyn, Shulk tried to help Reyn but at this point the only thing he could do was to put his leg in the way of the leader and it worked he ended up rubbing the ground with his face.

Reyn seemed hesitant, he wanted to beat him up really hard but at the same time Fiora was present and- ... well he was confused about this last move from the older boy, was this some sort of trickier or did he really manage to fall down by hitting the air ?

"W-well, are you alright Fiora ? D-did they ?!-"

"No they didn't do anything like this you pervert !" She slapped the boy for seemingly no reason "I'm not a damsel in distress !"

"H-hey ! You can't deny I helped !" He replied crossing his arms.

"No I'm not ... Oh ! I have to pick up something at my house, go to the plaza I will met you here"

"You don't want me to come with you ? I mean those guys could-" Reyn looked again at the leader, he wasn't bleeding but he was constantly expressing his pain with a weak "aaaaa..." Reyn sighed "nevermind I think he has enough for today, stay safe"

After the boy left Shulk realised he phased out for a moment, he quickly ran back to the small cave where he hid his face, it was still here, the animals which lived here all left the cave.

Shulk had seen more than enough, it was urgent, as soon as he could he would leave this place and warn Egil.

He heard something, rocks moving, the sounds of someone walking in his direction. He was still under his camouflage but his face-

Too late someone was inside the cavern, and not anyone, the girl he just helped. Why was she here ? Did she saw Shulk ? Impossible, he made sure his camouflage was working, but then why is she here ?

She quickly noticed the mechon, though she doesn't look scared, in fact she might not know what's a mechon at all, or she must not consider what she is currently seeing as a mechon.

Shulk tries to hold his breath, she can can still hear him. The girl named Fiora carefully approaches the face.

"H-hey-" she says at the inanimate armor "I- ... I saw footprints when I was going back to my house and- well I knew I didn't simply imaginated what happened a few minutes ago ... did you- ... did you help me ?"

Shulk doesn't answer, she has already seen enough, and she doesn't need to know more.

As the girl doesn't receives a response she approaches even more close from the face to the point she starts examinating the object.

"That's- .. that's really weird ..." Fiora rapidly understand that whatever the thing in front of her is it didn't help her a few moments ago, something or someone else did and this someone else is present right now as she didn't see any footprints going away from the cave. "Well, if you don't want to answer it's fine. I just want to let you know that I am grateful"

The girl keeps looking at the face for a little longer before leaving the cave, Shulk makes sure that this time she isn't waiting somewhere or turning around.

* * *

"What do you mean lost his signal ?!" Egil rarely Yelled at his sister but at the moment the situation (from his point of view) was terrible.

Shulk disappeared from their radars since he reached Colony 9 and since then Vanea didn't stop refreshing and amplifying their signals "I do not know ! His signal diminished, it became unstable and then nothing. M-maybe he is in an isolated place and-"

A console nipped, Egil rushed at it to see what was happening, it was Shulk, the console picked back his signal.

"He is coming back !"

Vanea barely had the time to follow Egil outside her personal lab when Yaldabaoth appeared, Egil was joining Shulk, the last time Vanea had seen him so scared was when Zanza launched his attack on the capital.

* * *

Shulk aboard his face saw another flying object approach, he recognised Yaldabaoth from the distance. At first he was a bit surprised to see Egil flying away from the Mechonis but soon enough he received a transmission.

"Shulk ! Is everything alright ?!" He sounded panicked.

"Y-yes b-but what's wrong ?!"

"We lost our signal and- and- ... you are fine it's all that matters, let's go back home"

"Y-yes ... home"

* * *

Shulk reported evrything, excepted a certain part about getting caught into a conflict between a bunch of kids at the Colony.

"... So someone managed to wield the Monado, I'm not surprised, Zanza is recovering his strength and looking for a new host, our faces aren't ready yet, we do not even know if it is effective or not"

Shulk didn't really understand what Egil was talking about but Vanea seemed really concerned when he mentioned the faces.

"What's his name again ?" Asked Egil.

"Dunban if I recall correctly, he is a hight member in the hierarchy of the soldiers at the colony and- and he has a little sister from what I heard"

Egil didn't seem to pay much attention, Vanea however noticed that Shulk may have reported something which seemed out of context.

Egil sighed "It's late, you should go and rest, perhaps do a check up with Vanea, I will try to figure out how to deal with this situation"


	6. My name is Ruby

**Hey guys ! Sorry for the long wait, I'm still working on my main story but I'k trying to update each time I can ! Sorry this chapter is a bit short but here we go !**

**Also shoutout to Waluigifan**

* * *

"You want me to teach you about our technology ?"

"Yeah ! I want to know everything ! You are such a great inventor, I would like to be as good as you" Shulk hadn't dared to ask the question, he always thought that Egil would not be happy if he got to interested into mechons engineering but as the time passes he noticed that the leader was willing to "share" a secret or two, so why not ask Vanea directly ?

"... you know most of the models we are currently using were created by Egil, they are kind of weak compared to the face units but they are WAY more stable, compared to him I would just be a researcher, he is the real architect ... Perhaps you should go and ask him directly"

Should looked down for a moment "I- ... I guess I could but- ... I just don't want to disturb him, he is already working so hard, I never saw him sleeping as far as I can remember" Shulk had been on Mechonis for more than one month now, and indeed during the short periods of time he saw Egil he always looked tired but not to the point of collapsing in the ground, Vanea had her own room and compared to her brother Shulk had already seen her sleeping.

Shulk theorized that, as machines, the Machinas probably had the capacity to regulate their own bodies, obviously they are organic beings but compared to the Homs it is very plausible that they might have this sort of ability.

If it was the case then it would mean Egil is continually diminishing himself in order to stay awake ...

"Egil always has some time for the people of Mechonis"

"The people of Mechonis ? But- ...I-"

"You are half Hom half mechon, so technically this makes you a Machina right ? Hahaha, well I can still teach you a thing or two myself what do you want to know ?"

Shulk had already prepared at least three hours of questions for Vanea, hopefully she could make an effort and diminish herself to give the boy all the time needed to answer his questions right ?

* * *

"You got into troubles again"

"I never asked for anything you know" being grounded for a bunch of idiots who managed to get their ass kicked by something invisible, brilliant ... well Reyn wasn't concerned for now, so Fiora would be the only one actually punished.

"Fiora this is serious, I just picked up the monado, I'm an important figure, people are expecting a lot of me and-

"So what ? Just because you picked up your big red magic sword you have the right to be parading around the colony and make speeches about your important duties ?"

"Fiora that's not-"

"It would have been better if you didn't pick that sword" she stood up from her chair and left the kitchen, she was heading toward the entrance door of the house "In fact it would have been better if no one at all picked up this damn sword !"

"Fiora wait !" Dunban tried to reach his sister before she left the house but it was already too late, eventually she would come back, she would just say goodnight, not talk to him for a few days and then evrything will turn back to normal, or at least that's what he thought.

In truth she wasn't angry because Duban managed to wield the Monado, she was angry because it meant that now he would be even less present. Sometimes she wished he could see the truth without necessarily having to explain evrything to him. It would be so simple to simply tell him she needed her brother but ... what would be the point ? He would just slowly go back to his occupations.

Fiora didn't really plan what she would do next ... perhaps drop by Reyn's house ?

* * *

"So yes, most mechon relies on ether to works but we have found a lot of alternatives ! For example we are using oil-"

Egil didn't expect to find his sister and Shulk working together on a small mechon, they didn't notice him yet, apparently Vanea had finished the last face prototype, a mass produced one, he didn't like the overall design but it would work just fine.

The leader of Mechonis silently approached the duo, observing what they were currently looking at, an old mechon ... M29 Gather Unit, he hadn't seen this once since before Zanza launched his attack on Mechonis ... yes, he can still remember this model.

"We didn't use this one often" explained his sister to Shulk as she was removing the main frame to observe the interior of the machine "see this part ? It gets really hot quickly unless we find a way to evacuate all the pressure, usually we would use a cooling liquid but for some reason this one kept overheating"

Egil knew why of course, he had solved this problems eons ago, all they had to do was-

"The part supposed to contain the liquid is too small, it can't contain enough, if you make it bigger it might be ome more fragile and it will take too much space so ... perhaps you could make it longer, like a tube ?"

Egil could resist he applauded, making the young Hom jump in surprise and giving his sister a small heart attack.

"Perhaps you shoud take a look at the other models ... I have a mission for you, but if you aren't available at the moment it can wait"

"N-no it's fine, I-I can help whenever you want !"

Egil smiled and gestured for Shulk to follow him "Our new observations units aren't ready yet, I need eyes at the colony to see how the situation is evolving, I want you to travel to the colony at least once a day to watch over the man who managed to use the Monado, can you do this for me ?"

"Of course, should I leave now ?"

Well please do we aren't in a hurry but that's your choice , I also upgraded your face unit, now you should be able to fully cloak"

"Really ?" Shulk beamed with excitement, he barely interacted with any mechon, apparently he was safe with his new body but he still didn't trust any of the machines so each time he could use his face unit was the occasion to be directly in contact with those intriguing beings ... well even if the face units are REALLY different from the regular units.

Shulk directly headed to the hangar containing RUBY, Egil stayed behind to tall a bit with Vanea first "He is smart, I'm sure he would have become a wonderful engineer on Bionis" he commented.

"It took you three years to see where was the problem, he did in about five seconds, I was wondering if you were jealous"

"Not at all haha ... I'm not taking any risk, we might have to accelerate our plans, the mass produced units aren't ready but we could still use our M30, they are already working and we have about ten M60 ready to deploy in Sword Valley"

Vanea looked worried suddenly "... How are you going to explain to Shulk the next step of your plan ? I can understand that considering the current situation we do not have much choice but- ... there is no way Shulk would attack his own kind"

Egil thought about this for a moment, of course this had to happen one day or another, he would have to warn Shulk about this part of the plan "... I will not force him, Shulk made me realise that keeping the pilot's spirit has to be the best option"

"You never intended to-"

"Of course no, not on a child, I'm not that cruel ... I should go now, Shulk is waiting"

* * *

Shulk had already figured out how the cloak system worked, Egil had reprogrammed the interface fo make it more ergonomic, he had also switched the color, now it was red !

"Do you like it ? I guess I don't even have to explain the new features"

"It's great thank you ! B-but well technically it's not mine it's yours I'm just the pilot hehe ..."

"You can consider it yours and- ... before you go we need to talk" Egil sat on a bench outside of the hangar, not that he needed one, the factory had this type of furnitures placed everywhere yet no one was here to use them.

Shulk joined Egil "... Something is wrong ?"

"Yes, I didn't make sure you were fully willing to help us ... would you be able to kill another Hom to ensure the survival of all the others ? This is a war Shulk, you already know this but are you fully aware about what it means ?"

The young Hom shivered.

"I- ... I know, I know I said I would help you ... and I considered this eventuality. I remember you once said that every mechon in existence is under your direct control right ? Then- ... then if one day you need me to kill someone ... use me"

Egil stared at Shulk, he wasn't confused at this moment, but scared. The kid was ready to be used as a tool ... it wasn't loyalty, no it was far worse than he anticipated, it was devotion.

"... It was too early to tall about this, now go ... try to empty your mind, you shouldn't think to much about this" Egil swinged a finger I the air, after a second Shulk's face unit moved out of it's hangar.

Without hesitation Shulk climbed inside "I'll be back tomorrow then" he announced.

Egil turned around one last time and waved his hand as he saw RUBY leaving the Mechonis "... And she said brainwashing was an atrocity"

* * *

In about an hour Shulk had reached the colony, this time he took the long way around to reach the cavern once again, apparently the creatures inside decided to find another place to live. He wasn't done thanking Egil and Vanea for the face unit, he was about to activate the recharge mode and exit RUBY when he heard a voice.

"H-hey, you are back !"

Shulk looked all around him until he found the origin of the voice, the same girl he helped, he didn't see her when he entered the cave because she was hiding in a dead angle.

"S-so ... I knew you would come back-I-I mean, I supposed you would ... and I'm glad you did !"

Shulk had to do something, she was compromising his mission ! Perhaps escape ? No she woumd just tell what she saw to everyone ... he had to deal directly with the source of the problem ... so-

"I didn't really had to occasion to thank you, you weren't responding, I guess you were ... sleeping ? Even machines need to cool down from time to time right ? Hehehe"

... He had to- ... he had to ki-

"I didn't speak about you to anyone, I promise, you were hiding the other day and-and I must admit I'm still clueless when it comes to how you managed to become invisible and-and hehe, sorry I-I lost my train of thoughts here.m I haven't even told you my name, I'm Fiora"

Fiora ... he liked this name a lot.

Shulk considered his options for a few seconds, then he activated his voice transmission.

"Hello Fiora ... my name is- ... Ruby"


	7. Perfectly layed plan almost

"Ruby" repeated Fiora "I like your name ... so-so, you are a mechon ? You-you do ot look like one though- I-I mean you look like a machine but you look way more "hom" than what the adults used to describe"

She was scared, any sudden move could make her run away, Shulk had to be VERY careful, at this point their meeting was going too badly ... he was just trying to find another way to not call his failure a disaster.

"I- ... am a different kind of mechon, we are more diversified than you homs are, I am a-" no he couldn't tell he was a face unit, then she would ask question and this would lead to a total ruin "Scout unit"

"Scout unite ? Then you are spying on us ?" Shulk hit his head against the cockpit as a punishment, however Fiora heard the BUNK inside the machine "What was that ?"

"I-...I-" what would a machine say ? Machines aren't supposed to talk in the first place ! ... well Egil and Vanea do but that's different "I am not allowed to talk about my directives" Shulk had to admit he was very proud of this answer.

"Haha, sure ... you-... you aren't here to kill anyone right ?" Why did she have to smile at the same time she asked this kind of question ? ...

Shulk made a promise to Egil, he would do anything to protect their world from Zanza, and if it meant killin her ... but Fiora, she looks so innocent.

"No, I am not here to kill anyone" his voice was cold and emotionless ... just like a machine, but Shulk had no idea of how he should answer otherwise.

"... what are you watching then ?" She wasn't going to let him out obviously, was Fiora actually having fun ?

"I can't tell you"

And again she waited, standing in front of the tall mechon and smiling as if she wasn't near a potential threat of death in the form of a deadly war machine.

"What if I give you a tour of the Colony ? Would you tell me what you are looking for ?" Shulk actually considered her offer, Fiora had been living here for years and- ... well, she could perhaps give him acces to more parts of the Colony.

"... A tour ? Fine, I might tell you why I am here ... give me a second" Shulk put the face unit on lockdown mode and activated his helmet, and finally his camouflage. Then he opened the cockpit of the face.

"W-what-" Fioara didn't understand what she just witnessed, what she would call the "torso" of the mechon opened to reveal nothing, absolutely nothing, just an empty space.

"Do not worry, I will be using my- ... inner unit to move around the Colony, most people would not appreciate my presence" at first the girl was slightly startled by the voice who suddenly seemed very closer from her but also less metalic "Did you tell anyone about-?"

"Of course I didn't ! It's already hard enough to have my big brother on my back all the time, I do not want to get involved into a story about mechons ... no-no offence"

"None taken ... you have an older brother ?"

"I do ... he is- ... well he is very proud of himself at the moment, but let's not talk about him, first I want to show you the best place in all the Colony" Fiora headed out of the cave but right at the entrance she stopped "Uh, are you still following me ? I-I mean you are invisible ... how is that even possible ?"

"I'm still following you, and that's a secret" the girl chuckled and kept walking, she brought Shulk right above the cave, there was a small park, and indeed this was the most beautiful place of all the Colony, the view was amazing. "You were right ... do you come hero often ?"

Fiora sat on a bench and looked at the Colony "More often than anyone should, it may sound weird but from this place I can really notice that I am leaving on a giant, from the Colony you can't really see that ... Hey, since you are a mechon you live on Mechonis, how does it looks like ?"

"Mechonis ? Well, most people would imagine it's only made of machines, that's its lifeless but- ... that's not true, on Mechonis there are lifeforms no one would be able to imagine unless they see it, shapes that would blow your mind"

"... But- ... how does it "looks" like ?"

"Oh, you want a visual description ..." Shulk doubted that Fioranwould found a gigantic usine interesting. "Mechonis is mostly composed of metal, there are no trees, no mountains, no water. The environment is perpetually changing, the roads are as large as the Colony is, the ground itself isn't fixed, it can bring you from the leg to the head in a matter of minutes"

"Like ... floating isles ?"

"Floating isles, no ... more like giant elevators, but their extent is ridiculously enormous for hom's standards" after a few seconds this sounded slightly offensive.

"... what about the other mechons ? Everyone says they are killing machine ... but you are different-"

"I cannot talk about this subject, my mission is different therefore I have no reason to attack you, unless my mission is compromised" Shulk meant warn her but when he saw the fearful expression of Fiora he knew he messed up.

"... Mechons are built to protect Mechonis, living beings of Bionis are seen as a threat to the Mechonis, this is only a defence protocol. As you are not a direct threat I have no reason or need to attack you ... I only wanted to warn you, the other mechons aren't like me, I am an- ... advanced version"

"... Why do you see the people of Bionis as a threat ? We never tried to harm you-"

"No ... no the homs didn't, it's- ... I am not allowed to talk about this"

"There are a lot of things you can't talk about"

"I am protecting the Mechonis with my silence ... imagine, I suppose those big towers are some sort of anti air artillery, what if you told me exactly how they worked, who is in charge of their maintenance and when ... how could I use this information ? Fiora, I can see what you are trying- what you want to do, but this is an advice, do not get close from the mechons."

"You are spying on us ... does it mean the mechons are-"

"If my mission is successful there won't be any war between the Bionis and the Mechonis, not anymore, never"

At this very moment Shukl had the equivalent of a flashback ... Fiora, she had a brother, and her brother was the man named Dunban, the one who managed to use the Monado ! Then ... if he could "befriend" this girl, Shulk might have a chance to get his hands on the Monado and-

But no ... Shulk clearly remembers what happened in the mountains, the sword had it's own volunty, it could actually hurt him again.

"... It's fine, I won't ask any more questions, I-... I suppose you care as much about me as the people on Mechonis" People on Mechonis ? Did he say too much ? No perhaps Fiora just guessed "It's kind of hard to talk to someone else when they can't say much in return"

...

"Let's make another deal, a serious one this time" Fiora turned her head on her right, somehow she could tell Ruby or rather Shulk was sitting right next to her "If you prove to me that I can trust you I'll she everything I know about the Mechonis with you"

"How can I do that ?" Fiora beamed, she looked more than determined to achieve that.

"... Your brother is Dunban right ? The person who managed to use the Monado"

Her smile faded away "Y-yes ... why ?"

"I- ... I need to know where the sword is" Fiora looked hesitant, Shulk feared that he went too far but to his surprise her smile came back, yet it was now a grin that clearly showed that the girl was up to no good.

"You want the Monado ?"

...

"Perhaps ?"

Fiora suddenly grabbed Shulk's shoulder, he was surprised by this sudden movement, but he was even more surprised that she managed to find his shoulders on her first try, did she even assume that Shulk had the shape of a hom in the first place ? Anyway, Fiora was as surprised as Shulk was when she discovered that her new "friend" had a very smile body to hers.

"P-Please ... take it away, since Dickson came back with it everyone has been ... obsessed, people kept trying to "master" it even to the point where they would get hurt. When my brother showed signs that he could hold on longer than anyone he became some sort of hero and- ... I do not hate my brother but, I really want things to go back the way they used to be"

Shulk looked down, then he deactivated his camouflage, they were alone and now he felt like he could truly trust Fiora. The girl gasped, it was like standing in front of an hom but, made out of metal, and from her point of view Ruby was roughly the same size as her.

"You-You are- YOU ARE A KID ?" He wasn't expecting this kind of reaction but at least it meant that she still believed he was a machine. Shulk mostly did this to "increase" their trust.

"Technically I was- ... "built" very recently, so you could say I am indeed a "kid" ... I just thought you would rather speak to something tou can see instead of the air"

"You- ... you look great, I really like the color red" Shulk blushed hard under his helmet "Now let go get that sword !"

"W-wait it's not- ... I can't-"

"Why ? Isn't it why you are here ? The Monado is the only weapon that can hurt the mechons right ?"

"Fiora you- ... The Monado can manipulate the ether, that's how it's effective against our armor however-" Shulk wanted to talk about it's weakness, why it couldn't hurt beings from the Bionis but he wasn't sure he could go that far "The Monado isn't only dangerous for me, it's dangerous for anyone near it ... can you show me where it is ? I will- ... I will see what I can do and also-" Shulk went to check their surroundings to see if anyone happened to be listening "Do not trust-" but then Shulk reconsidered again his advice, if he told Fiora about Dickson, a being who lived far longer than any of them, she might have a different behavior near him, and then he would notice.

"Do not trust ? ... who ? What ?"

"... Some people are obsessed with the Monado and the mechons, if we attack the Bionis it is by choice, but by necessity, those people are fanatics who think they serve a higher power, it's a lie ... I was about to days you can trust anyone, but that was stupid, i would like to protect everyone and I would do anything to reach this goal but that's why I might end up becoming the bad guy in this story"

"You sound like you know a lot of things ... yet you keep trying to avoid speaking, the mechons the Monado, "not attacking by choice". I if everyone is concerned I want to help !"

"Once the Monado is secured I swear I will tell you everything, this is a promise ... and perhaps after that we could really have a tour of the Colony ... right ?"

The girl smiled "Yes we will ! ... can we go now ? Or do you have something else to say ? Hahaha"

"Hehe, really funny, I'm trying to be serious" Shulk noticed he completely broke his character.

"A machine who can laugh, who could believe it was possible"

Shulk looked away "Where is it ?" Fiora chuckled and move closer toward Shulk to try to get a reaction out of him but the mechon in front of her stood still, for a moment she thought there was more.

"Well that's the best part" Shulk reactivated his camouflage and Fiora led him to a small house at the entrance of the Colony, the way it was isolated from the rest of the Colony felt odd.

"This is-"

"My house ... well our house, technically it belongs to my brother but you know how it works, under his roof it's his rules" Fiora was about to get inside when she noticed thought the window that apparently her brother wasn't alone at this time, she gestured for Shulk to wait and to follow her around the house.

For some reason they could hear most of what was going on inside "Your brother invited some friends ?"

"Yes ... he isn't done celebrating, I saw Disckson throught the window and I suppose Mumkhar is here too"

So Dickson was close from Dunban ... then perhaps it isn't simply a hazard if Dunban ended up being the only person who could wield the Monado.

"Ah comon ! Cheer up Mumkhar ! We finally found the one thing every mechon is scared of" that was Dunban's voice.

"Correction, I found it, guess I was the only one with enough guts to get lost in the mountains" a bunch of terrible lies which just hidded what kind of monster he really was.

"I'm not deaf ! ... oh well you are all so amazing, Dickson is a great adventurer, Dunban is the hero of the colony ... what about me ? I'm like the guy who carries your stuff, I didn't even get the chance to try to use it !" Mumkhar went from an ironical tone to a serious one.

"Well ... give it a shot ... just don't break anything, please" Shulk was curious, he wanted so much to be able to see what was going on.

"Dunban, what if Mumkhar gets hurt ?" As if he actually cared.

"That will be my problem, hand me the damn sword already ! ... " There was a silence, for a couple of seconds, perhaps a minute nothing happened "Uh ... is it broken or what ? How do I- ... how do I turn it on ?"

People gasped in surprise "What do you mean by turning it on ? You just have to handle it ... perhaps you are doing it wrong ? Try with your other hand ?"

"I'm doing it right ! It's this sword that's broken !" There was a tud inside the house.

"DON'T THROW IT ON THE FLOOR !" Yelled Dunban and Dickson at the same time.

"Chill would you ? This thing is a legendary artefact, it's not going to break like that ... wait can we actually break it ?"

"DON'T YOU DARE TRY THIS !"

Shulk and Fiora had to wait for about ten minutes until the gang decided to go get decent drinks, that meant the house would be empty for the next few hours, Fiora grabbed Shulk's arm, she didn't pay attention to the fact that she managed to do so without even seeing him."Now ! Dunban never leaves the house with a weapon unless he wants to train"

Shulk was curious about the place where Fiora lives but he didn't get the time to have a look as the girl showed the sword in his face "Now take it away ... please !"

She expected that Shulk would immediately take it and thank her or something similar but instead the mechon wasn't in front of her anymore. Shulk took a few steps back ... he remembered what happened in the mountains ... but it was different now, the Monado had no ether to draw out of his body.

"Fiora ... thank you ... but-" Shulk stared at the sword for a moment, he just had an idea, a very good idea "That's- that's it ! Fiora, o have to go back to my fa- my main unit, I will come back in a few hours, I have a plan, please wait for me"

* * *

"Brother, I picked up Ruby's- I mean Shulk signals" Vanea sighed "Why did I even used his face unit's name ... anyway, as I was saying he is coming back"

Egil had been working on his current apocrypha prototype since Shulk left the Mechonis for his reconnaissance mission "Already ? Is something wrong ? His signal-"

"His signal is perfect, and so are his vital signs according to the information his unit is spending ... perhaps he just came back earlier and-" A propulsor sound could be heard approaching, Shulk's face unit landed right next to Vanea and Egil.

"Shulk ! We didn't expect you until-" Egil sounded happy when he saw Shulk coming back, however when the pilot frame opened he froze.

"We do not have much time !" Shulk jumped out from his face unit and threw the Monado on the ground out of fear it would suddenly decide to pump their souls or anything else. "Vanea, can you make a replica of the Monado ? I need a fake one !"

But Vanea was just as chocked as Egil, the leader of Mechonis took a few steps toward the sword and hesitantly picked it up "It's- ... It's the Monado, but Shulk how did you-?"

"Please Egil, Vanea ! I will answer all your question later, I just want to know if it is possible to make a replica of the Monado" Egil looked at Vanea speechless.

His sister thought about this for a moment "Y-Yes ... Yes I can do that, let's go to my lab, now !"

On the way Shulk explained how he met Fiora and how he ended up retrieving the Monado. Vanea wasn't really listening as she worked as quickly as possible, Egil had been listening very carefully, he even asked for more details.

"It's- ... I can't believe it was that easy ... and Dickson ?"

"He didn't even noticed me ... I was about to leave with the Monado when I got this idea, they will notice that the Monado is gone, it's certain. But what if they can't make the difference between the true Monado and a fake one ? Apparently no one at the Colony knows how it works, not even Dickson surprisingly enough ... so if I bring back a replica-"

"Our enemy wouldn't even know we stole the key of their plan ... it's genius ... Shulk, we have won, even if your plan does work, we have the Monado, now I can do everything in my power to destroy it, and once it's destroyed Zanza will be gone forever"

"We won ... I guess we can thank Fiora then, without her I'm not sure I would have been able to pull this out"

"Fiora, she is Dunban's sister, remind me, how did she end up seeing you ?"

"I-I may have saved her from a bunch of bullies."

"... and this is what you call being invisible, I suppose she played a major part in this ... Shulk, you should watch over her, if Dunban and Dickson are close then we might be able to learn a few things with her help."

"Yes we could ... but- but I don't want to put her in danger"

"I should remind you that Zanza does not care about anything but himself, as long as he exists she is in danger"

"But we have the Monado now, we can destroy it right ? And then Zanza will be dead !" But Egil wasn't looking at Shulk, he was watching his sister as she worked in making the most identical replica of the Monado she was able to.

"... Zanza inhabits beings of Bionis in order to have a physical form, the last individual he inhabited was my friend Arglas, after the great battle the people known as the High Entia who lives on the head of the Bionis created a prison for him. Zanza still inhabits his body ... even if we destroy the Monado I am not certain it will be enough"

"You- .. you didn't mention that" the leader of Mechonis couldn't deny he felt guilt, but this lie was necessary, Shulk was mature enough to understand the situation, but too young to visualise the full extent of this war"

"We won because now Zanza has lost his most precious weapon, but the war isn't finished yet, as long as he has a body we can't rest ... once the Monado is destroyed we will make sure to deal with him."

At the same time Vanea cleaned up her work table and presented the replica "Do you like it ?"

"It's- ... I can't even make the difference with the real one !"

"It isn't as powerful but it has the same effect, also, I was listening when you said only Dunban could use the Monado so I installed a security, only the person related to his bloodline will be able to use it"

"How did you do that ?" Asked Egil curious about this design.

"Actully I have not done it yet, I need a drop of his blood, but I suppose Fiora will be more than willing to give it" Vanea gave the sword to Shulk.

"Thank you Vanea ! I have to go back to the Colony now, if I'm quick enough they went even notice it was gone !"

* * *

Fiora had been waiting for a few hours, when she heard the sound of Ruby's reactor she was so happy, they didn't lie they really came back, however when the hatch in the mechon's body opened the wasn't so happy anymore.

"Y-you brought it back ! WHY ?!"

"Fiora please let me explain ! I can't let them notice the Monado is gone, it's a fake one, a replica, it works just like the original one but it's not the original and it's the whole point of the plan !" As Shulk advanced toward Fiora the girl kept walking backwards.

"No ! You didn't listen, you understood nothing, I want my brother back ! I do not want him to be the stupid hero of the Colony !" She ran away. Shulk tried to follow her but he ended up discovering the the replica was pretty heavy, but he knew where she was going.

The outlook part, he found her sitting on a bench and crying. He really needed her help ... she was right, he completely forgot why Fiora helped him in the first place.

"Fiora ... I'm sorry, I didn't have the choice ... but I still need your he-"

"Go away ... you are not my friend"

Shulk went next to her and sat on the bench "You really hate me ?"

Fiora wiped her tears away "N-No I don't it's just- ... I'm angry, I'm really angry. I thought that if the Monado was gone then my brother would lost the interest of the other people at the Colony and we would be able to spend more time together"

"... Actually, the Monado is more important than you think, if your brother loses it, not only will he loses the interest of the people at the Colony but he will also be hated by everyone, would you like to see him suffer because he lost the thing that was his responsibility ? ... Fiora you have to make a choice, perhaps from your point of view all your options are bad choices but you still have to chose"

"... What can I do ?"

"Its a fake Monado, so anyone should be able to use it but Va- ... a security was added, only Dunban's bloodline will be able to use it but first, I need a drop of your blood" Fiora stared blankly at the mechon.

"I apologise Ruby ... can you repeat ?"

"I need a drop of blood, just-just press your finger against the handle, it will sting a little and then it will be done" Shulk handed the replica to Fiora, she examined it for a moment and then she did as she was instructed.

"I- ... I didn't feel anything, but I suppose it should work" Fiora gave back the Monado to Shulk "Let's drop it back where it was"

Fiora led the way followed by Shulk who activated his camouflage once again, they quickly dropped back the Monado at Dunban's house and then they went back to the park "You know ... it's not faire that you keep helping me without anything in return, is there anything you would like ?"

Fiora smiled "How about ... you make me visit your home ?"

...

"W-wait you want what ?"


	8. What hides in the metal bodies (part1)

"I want you to show me how Mechonis looks like ! I have never been out of the Colony ... I helped you, the least you could do is to give me some kind of reward, and that's what I am asking"

"It's- ... I will have to ask the permission to do that, I might actully get ki- dismantled if I bring a living being from Bionis on Mechonis" Egil would probably not kill Shulk, but he would definitely lost his trust and lose all his progress in the development of their relationship.

"Oh comonnnnn can't you make an exception ?" Fiora leaned on Shulk's shoulder, where did she learn to tempt people like this ? That was the most cruel thing she could do.

"... Fine, but please let me ask permission first, I promise I will find something else for you if I do no have the authorisation" Fiora seemed deceived, she was just a kid like him, but she wasn't the kind of person who would have a tantrum, as far as Shulk knew her.

"You will come back ... then, see you another day, Ruby"

* * *

"Brother, I was looking for you, while I was working on Shulk's replica I found something intere-" Vanea had followed her brother up to the core of Mechonis, this he were he locked up the Monado, his experiment room for the apocrypha generator. The Monado was locked up behind 5 different layers of glass shields and constantly being monitored by M87 units.

Vanea was worried, Egil wasn't even breathing, he just stared at the sword, with his eyes wide opened "Yes ? Vanea ?"

"Egil w- are you alright ?"

"I am, I was just- ... it's nothing, I thought about increasing the security with mass produced face units since we can use basic algorithms but- ... forget it, you said you discovered something ?"

Vanea knew that Egil rarely took any kind of break, he didn't really need any but seeing him obsessed by the Monado changed her mind, she wanted to beg him to finally breath after all this years.

"This-this is purely theoretical but ... I think I found a way to produce anti-ether, it doesn't destroy ether but it makes it very unstable, it works just like a powerful poison, it's powerful enough to affect any being hight sensible to ether change just by bringing it close from them"

"... you are thinking about the telethias, you are right, even of they can't read the movements of our weaker units they could actually be a threat for the face units ... and they have more fire power than we do"

"I'm making a prototype, a spear, but it will take some time to fully complete it ... also I picked up Ruby's signal ... I-I mean Shulk ah damn it, I really need to get use to this ... he will be back to the central factory in a few minutes, how about you come down here to get some fresh- I mean ... Brother, I'm worried about you, the war isn't over yet I know, but perhaps you are focusing too much on the Monado"

Egil turned back to look once again at the sword "It's driving me mad ... Let's see if Shulk achieved his plan" the way to the central factory was short thanks to the transportation system. Face Ruby headed directly to the maintenance bay, once it was fully stopped Shulk got out from his face unit, he was met by Vanea and Egil.

"The replica is in place ?" Immediately asked the leader of Mechonis.

"Yes it is, I put it back where I found it in the exact same position ... where is the true Monado now ?"

"Locked up and heavily watched, not even an army could get close from it, now I will be working a lot on the apocrypha, we need it working as soon as possible, the Monado isn't completely neutralised yet"

"Then ... what will we do about Argl- I-I mean Zanza"

Egil looked at Vanea for a brief instant "We are currently working on the problem, but for now we can rest ... perhaps you could help Vanea ?"

"Oh y-yes of course" Egil smiled and started walking away from the maintenance bay "...W-wait E-Egil !"

"Hum ?" The machina turned around "Is something wrong ?"

"I- ... I need to ask you something, you-you see this girl Fiora, she-she wants to see how the Mechonis looks like and- ... I think she deserves to know what we are fighting against, she helped us and she did not even now the truth, I-I know it's dangerous but-"

"Bring her here"

...

"W-Wait I can-"

"But there will be only one rule"

* * *

Fiora woke up early, Dunban came back home late the last night, he kept drinking with his friend, he would probably not even notice if she was gone, in fact she even left him a letter in which she explained she would be camping away from the Colony and that she needed some alone time.

She also tried to explain to Dunban that she wanted to spend more time with him again, and that since he managed to use the Monado he wasn't the same person ... but he would probably not even pay attention to this part of letter.

Spending a hald a day alone in a cavern wasn't entertaining, but necessary if Fiora wanted to avoid being seen with Ruby. Reyn would probably be looking for her however ... he could manage to be a few days alone, he was supposed to be the tougher guy she knew after all.

Around midday Fiora heard the familiar sound of Ruby's reactor, it felt weird to be able to hear him but not to see him, the sounded stopped and soon the mechon appeared.

"Hello Fiora, I am back as I promised"

"You can't believe how happy I am, so ... you are bringing me to Mechonis ?"

"I asked the authorisation, it was granted, we can go now if you wa-" Shulk noticed something next to Fiora, a large round shape "...You prepared a bag ?"

"I do not know for how long I will be gone so I came prepared"

Shulk sighed, at this rate she would probably even stay on Mechonis "Fine ... but I have a few things to tell you, first on Mechonis I am knows as First Face Ruby, you could say this is my rank, I'll be constantly following you during your stay on Mechonis, and our leader wants to meet you in person"

"Your leader ?"

"... You will meet him as soon as we reach Mechonis ... now, I was upgraded, my inner unit is slightly larger so you should be able to fit in, the thorax of Shulk's face opened "Y-you can get in ... just-just avoid interfering with the commands"

Fiora grabbed her backpack and climbed inside the mechon "I'm curious ... are you whole or are you just- ... I mean, what or where is your body exactly ?"

"Oh ... the whole unit is me, but I can detach myself into a smaller unit" Shulk wasn't feeling comfortable with Fiora so close from him, she was probably not feeling the same way as she still thought he was a machine "Are you installed ?"

"Yes, is it alright if I'm staying in this position ?" She was literally sitting on his legs so Shulk basically lost 90 % of his field of view but that may not be a problem if he could simply set a trajectory for his face unit.

""it's-it's fine ... remember, once we arrive on Mechonis you do not go running around without me, I shall remind you that the other mechons are programmed to hunt and kill any lifeforms of Bionis"

"I do not have the intention to die any time soon so do not worry about me"

Shulk closed the pilot hatch and programmed a trajectory for the face unit, the inside of the face suddenly light up, the interior vanished from Fior's point of view but in fact it was only covered by holograms displaying the environments outside the face as if it's body was transparent.

Fiora got scared at first, she screamed and held to Shulk as tightly as possible, she wasn't prepared for this kind of transport. The ground moved away so quickly, too quickly in fact, in a few seconds they were already higher than the park.

"We will cross Sword Valley directly ... are you feeling well ?"

"I-I just don't like heights but that alright ... as a machine do fear anything ? Like ... the dark for example ?"

"... I am programmed to think like a living being, survival instincts allow me to create and elaborate complex movements and schemes of attacks. But I have my individuality ... I fear the future, I fear what I can't handle by myself, I fear failure"

"Oh ... so there are others like you ? other "elaborate" mechons ?"

"I am not allowed to talk about them, you might not even meet any other mechon like me during your visit"

Face Ruby was reaching Sword Valley, Fiora discovered the large area for the first time, everyone could see Mechonis's sword from the Colony but it seemed so far away. The simple fact that this whole area was in fact a weapon gave her chills, but she was curious about strange green lights moving in the direction of Mechonis along the Valley.

"What is that ?" She asked pointing at the lights.

"It's ether, being pumped by the sword from Bionis injury"

"Isn't that dangerous for Bionis ?" She asked really worried about this discovery

"It has been in place for century, the Bionis isn't going to suddenly run out of ether ... sadly"

"Sadly ! What do you mean by that ? ... You are making the Bionis bleed on purpose ?" Shulk tried to ignore the worrying and accusating look the girl was giving him but after a few seconds she looked angry above all.

"You remember when I promised to explain everything ? Why I was looking for the Monado ? Why it was so important ? ... we aren't killing the beings of Bionis by pleasure I already told you that ... we are killing them because we have no choice, we are fighting against something way more powerful, something than can not simply be killed by conventional ways"

"It almost sounds like you are fighting against a ghost ..."

"I was ordered to not explain anything myself, our leader, Egil, will personally tell you the truth ... I should warn you, he doesn't trust anyone, but you need to understand that he has been living drowned in fear for a few centuries

"CENTURIES ? I- ... oh wait ... I forgot you are machines, you are immortal"

"Not- ... not really, Egil isn't a "mechon" if I may say but-but- ... Ah you will see ! P-please just try to enjoy the view I might actually make a mistake if I keep talking and I would really be in trouble and-"

Fiora giggled "it's funny ... you aren't really a machine either are you ?" Did she figure it out ? Shulk trembled a bit but then Fiora added "whoever built you must be funny, it's like giving a soul to a creation"

"C-certainly ... look I- ... I do not want to put you in danger because you helped me and- ... and I think we can admit we became friends despite being "enemies" from a general definition"

"You like me ?"

Shulk shivered, that one question asked on purpose to destabilise him "It-it depends what you mean by "like" be more precise please"

"Like ... like like ?"

"It's even more confusing ... you would like to have a machine as your friend ?"

"Why not if I like the machine hihihi"

Shulk thanked Lady Meyneth, he hadn't been "praying" Egil told him it was useless, that it didn't work that way, but since Zanza was actively trying to consume him Shulk might as well worship the one deity that doesn't try to eat the world, he knew that Lady Meyneth had no power over whether or not he was approaching quickly from the landing area of the capital but it became sole sort of tick. Now he wouldn't have to endure Fiora's disturbing questions and ... how was he even supposed to call it ? Sassines ?

Egil was here, waiting aboard Yaldabaoth, Shulk thought this wasn't necessary but Fiora would figure out soon enough that Egil is the pilot and not the machine.

"This-this one is gigantic !"

"That's Yaldabaoth, Egil's personal mechon, you should feel special, we rarely have any guest and Egil only uses Yaldabaoth when he needs to take care of something personally, we are landing, I will open the main frame so you can get out ... uh just- ... don't worry if Egil sounds cold it's just- ... he doesn't trust homs ... or anyone in general but he is kind"

Face Ruby landed a few meters away before Yaldabaoth, Shulk opened the main frame so Fiora could finally climb down from the faced mechon, and now the young girl stood in front a mechon which might be about thirty time her size.

"Welcome on Mechonis Fiora"

"Thank you Egil" Fiora spoke loudly as she thought the machine standing in front of her wouldn't be able to hear anything.

Yaldabaoth looked down at Fiora, but in fact Egil was watching Shulk, he expected that the boy would get out of his face unit but instead he remained inside and waited.

"I suppose you have many question, you chose to help us so I will more than gladly accept to answer all of them, but for your own security you will remain at all time near me or S- ... Ruby'

"I will" she answered without hesitation in his voice.

"Good" Yaldabaoth's frame opened and Egil floated down right in front of Fiora "I am Egil, Leader of Mechonis, and agent of lady Meyneth"

Fiora was surprised, terrified, and amazed by the tall being which stood in front of her, Egil looked so very much like a hom, she expected something completely different, much closer from a faceless mechon or something similar to Ruby.

"I am a machina, we are the race inhabiting Mechonis"

"Machinas ... but- ... how did we never know you existed ?"

"The war between the two giant is long gone, and the knowledge surrounding this event has been wiped out, you deserve to know the truth because you helped us, you deserve to know what happened thousands of years ago ... but not yet, I'm sure you would feel more comfortable if Ruby showed you the capital first, he is the one who invited you after all"

Egil gestured for Shulk to advance "I will be following you, if Fiora has any question I will more than gladly answer"

Shulk nodded "Thank you ... we should start by the central tower, from the top you will be able to see the whole capital, then we should head directly to lady Meyneth's shrine"

Fiora followed Shulk in his face unit, Egil kept walking next to her, his presence was overwhelming, she couldn't tell why but it felt like the machina was constantly glaring at her.

She noticed the strange bodies scattered around the city almost immediately "What are- ... I have never seen anything like this, not even on bionis"

"Telethias, this creatures were created by the incarnation of the Bionis, servant and slaves without freewill, only responding to their master and with only one purpose, to destroy, kill and collect"

"C-collect ?"

"Every being on Bionis is made with ether, the telethia can absorb the ether of any living being to the point of completely draining them of their life forces ... they were sent at the beginning of the war to exterminate my people, we had fo fled the capital and to hide away in the fallen arm of Mechonis"

Fiora was shivering, the mechons were almost indestructible, and yet if so many of those monsters managed to get here it means- ... the city was empty, lifeless, only some very large mechon that didn't look like any other where roaming around "... that's- ... is that why there is no else here ? Did- ... did everyone die ?"

"Not everyone, but most of us did, only about a hundred machinas remain nowadays ... we weren't expecting any attack, it was a butchery. We never attacked Bionis, we were the one to get attacked"

At this point Egil explained his past with Arglas and how Zanza ended up taking control of him, and as a result how he defended the capital and managed to repel Zanza.

"It was a long fight that lasted for entire days, perhaps weeks ... but I knew he wasn't dead, only weakened after this fight, Zanza is the Monado and the Monado is Zanza ... if I could neutralise the Monado then I could neutralise Zanza, but it was hidden away from me, I only found it recently but I was taken by surprise, one of Zanza's disciple, an immortal named Dickson managed to retrieve the Monado and brought it back to your Colony"

"You- ... you can't be talking about our Dickson ! He is one of the nicest people I ever met"

"And also one of the biggest traitor to ever be born, he doesn't care about anything but fighting, Zanza offered him exactly what he wanted, a war ... his power might be diminished however since Zanza is restrained at the moment"

"So ... all this wat between Bionis and Mechonis ... it hasn't ended yet ? Because the Monado- ... that's why you wanted to retrieve it, not only because it's the only weapon able to damage mechons"

"There are many weapons able to damage mechons, but the Monado is special, it manipulates the waves of ether to shape it's environment that's how it can melt the armor of our warriors ... but it is also the weakness we are exploiting ..."

Shulk had been listening silently to their exchange, Egil opened his heart to Fiora, just like he did with him ...

"We have to tell everyone, we have to explain-"

"We can't do that, Zanza had many subjects, Dickson is one of them but think about it, they are immortals, they had hundreds of years to infiltrate the population, who knows if one of them isn't the leader of a colony ? Or worse ... when the Monado will be destroyed it will be time to end the war"

"Why are you still attacking the Bionis then ?"

"To weaken Zanza, the Bionis is still his incarnation ... it's the only solution I could find to finish the fight if I couldn't get my hands on the Monado, I had to destroy the source of his power, his food, because do not make any mistake from his point of view this is exactly what you are, nothing more, nothing less"

"... but you have the Monado now ! You can stop-"

"The attacks have ceased ... you are just as concerned as I am for you people, i was alone when the war ended, they all thought I was enraged, that I wanted revenge, they chose to ignore the fact that it was going to happen again and this time Zanza would be unstoppable, only my sister Vanea supported me and- ..." Egil looked at the shrine above the capital "Ruby, prepare the way"

"Yes" Shulk flew toward the transport and activated it Egil and Fiora arrived exactly when it was powered up.

"Step in, do not worry, I can even go ahead"

"What is-" Fiora saw Egil disappear as he walked throught the strange device.

"It's a transport device, I can't explain exactly how it works but ... just imagind that your body is decomposed and recomposed at another place"

"... is it safe for homs ?"

"If it can help there has never been any incidents in one century and more"

"But no one uses it"

...

"Should I take you with me again ?"

Fiora was about to accept but then she thought that Egil might not appreciate her distrust, so she take one last breath and walked throught the device to immediately appear in front of the massive statue.

"You are courageous, I remember when we invented it, it took us a few years of testing to make sure it was absolutely safe, in the end we didn't use many of them" Egil invited Fiora to get close from the statue.

"It's- ... a woman ? She looks splendid"

"She is, this is lady Meyneth, the goddesses of Mechonis, and our creator ... she disappeared after the war, she was also drained by this terrible fight but unlike Zanza she didn't have any vessel to live in"

"This- ... this may sound like a stupid question but ... was she actually that tall ?"

"Hum ? Hahaha, no no, she was actually smaller than most of us, she was roughly the size of a hom ... without her guidance we had nothing but our own misery, she used to direct us, help us, she was part of our race ... she was like a mother for all of us"

"... I'm sorry"

"Do not be, no one is responsible, only Zanza is guilty ... I will keep mechon patrols active to prevent any attack on sword valley, but I might also send some patrols elsewhere on Bionis, I can't let our enemies figure out something is wrong"

Fiora looked up at Meyneth "... Can I- ... can I stay here ?"

"I beg your pardon ?" Egil was as confused as Shulk.

"Colony 9 makes me sick ... there isn't a lot of people I really like, and now that my brother "has" the Monado the other kids keep harassing me ... Please, let me stay here !"

"You ? Here ? ... you aren't a machina, you are a hom, an entity coming from Bionis, unless you are near me or Ruby or my sister Vanea you will always be considered as a threat and killed on sigh by the mechons"

"I beg you ... I need to get away from this place"

"I can't-"

"She could help Vanea" Shulk had never interrupted Egil, he didn't dare to do such a thing yet he thought that perhaps he could force the leader of Mechonis to change his mind.

Egil had this cold look back when he first met Shulk, he wasn't annoyed, in reality he simply had the very uncomfortable feeling to be forced to accept ...

"Fine, Ruby will escort you to Vanea and explain the situation, do not wander outside without him or Vanea near you, unless you want to die of course ... Ruby once you finish your task come back to me"

It worked, Egil had accepted.

"I will, Fiora please follow me, we are going to the central factory where Vanea's workshop is located"

* * *

"I can't tell if the factory is bigger than the capital"

"The capital is technically larger but smaller compared to the space it occupies ... you do understand that machina do not consume any kind of food ?"

"What do you- ... oh"

"... I will find a solution"

"Thank you ... it's funny, Egil referred to you as "him" and not "they", he identifies you as a man ? Hehehe ... you aren't a shy machina hidden inside that suite are you ?"

"W-what ? No of course no, I told you, I am a machine ... but I suppose my-my voice does let's him think of me as a man"

They reached the workshop rather quickly, Vanea was standing in front of a large maintenance bay, she was building a complex face unit which looked slightly similar to Ruby.

"Lady Vanea" Shulk called her, the machina wasn't expecting to be called this way.

"Lady Vanea ? You have no reason to call me this way Sh-" and as she stopped to focus on her work she noticed the young hom girl standing next to Ruby, Vanea understood the situation.

"Oh ... you are Fiora"

"Yes ! You look- ... a-a lot like Egil !"

"Hahaha, he is a but older than me though but if you say so ... I didn't think we would meet yet"

"Master Egil authorised Fiora to stay here, she might be able to help you in your tasks" explained Shulk still keeping the new titles.

"I see ... well Sh-Ruby, if you are done here I think you should go back and talk with my brother, I will make sure Fiora is comfortable" Vanea offered her hand to Fiora and led her further in her workshop.

* * *

Shulk came back to Meyneth shrine as quickly as he could, Egil was piloting Yaldabaoth once again.

"I have to admit ... I like her, she is really invested in everyone's well being ... I might send you to Colony 9 again to see how her brother reacts"

"I will ... for how long do we have to keep the true nature of the face units a secret ?" It was already unbearable to act constantly as a machine, Shulk even gave up the mask ... but now it sounded like Fiora was more than simply suspicious.

"For as long as necessary ... this gave me an idea, but I still have to think about the potential results ... in fact go back to Colony 9 immediately, if needed follow her brother, but make sure to stay away from Dickson, even if he is weakened we do not know how strong he really is"


End file.
